RAF Halton & leadership development

Following up my visit to RAF Halton a couple of months ago, I paid them another visit last Thursday to find out more about how they go about training their non-commissioned officers in management and leadership. It was a fascinating couple of hours learning about how they put their newly promoted corporals, sergeants, flight sergeants and warrant officers through management development.

The building where it all happens is surrounded by extensive grounds which they use to create physical challenges that develop the leadership of those attending the training programmes. Ditches, tyres, ropes and cables all form part of a hinterland within which RAF personnel gain insight into their own and others' leadership. I was told that sometimes even skipping ropes and light sabres feature but I am not sure I can explain how! Ensconced in the centre of a building is hub from which they marshal simulations designed to shrewdly test the limits of the leaders' capabilities and understanding. I quipped it was not a million miles from the Hunger Games! Here are some pics of the RAF personnel engaged in some of these activities (kindly supplied by my contact there)

And just at the end, I was shown a part of the site where soldiers were trained in trench warfare before being shipped off to France in the WW1. You can read about the project here of where some of the trenches have been recently restored to provide a place for education and indeed filming. It was an eerie experience walking through the trenches. And made more so given John Lloyd's description of his time filming last scene of Blackadder, the previous evening... (see blog below)

I won't name the officers who showed me around as I am cautious about releasing such information into the public domain. But I am enormously grateful to the Flight Lieutenant and his colleagues for sparing me their time.

Not the best pic I am afraid, but a brief timeline of the site and how it has been used to train combatants in trench warfare methods.